Quick Trick: Align Tasks and Gantt Bars with Grid Lines

Sometimes it can be difficult to visually align task rows in Microsoft Project with their corresponding shapes in the Gantt Chart:

Show Gantt Grid lines

We can fix that in about 30 seconds by simply adding horizontal grid lines to the Gantt Chart to help align the left task rows with the Gantt shapes.

Show Gantt Grid lines

Click the ‘Format’ tab in Microsoft Project to display the ‘Format’ ribbon:

Show Gantt Grid lines

Click the ‘Gridlines’ button and select the ‘Gridlines…’ option from the pick list:

Show Gantt Grid lines

In the ‘Gridlines’ dialog box, select the ‘Gantt Rows’ item in the left ‘Line to change’ list, select the small dashed line (———–) option from the ‘Type’ pick list, and select a dark grey color from the ‘Color’ pick list:

Show Gantt Grid lines

Voila! The new horizontal grid lines in the Gantt Chart now make it easier to align the left task rows with their corresponding shapes in the Gantt Chart:

Good luck!

Written by Tony Zink
Tony Zink is Vice President of Learning and Innovation at Houston, Texas-based EPMA, a Gold Microsoft Project and Portfolio Management Partner that provides PPM implementation, integration, development, training, and support services to large and small organizations world-wide. Tony volunteers his time to the Project Management, MS Project, and SharePoint user communities through organizing and presenting at conferences, user groups, and round table sessions, publishing articles, and answering questions in online forums. Tony co-authored two of the best-selling books in the Project and Portfolio Management field, 'Implementing and Administering Microsoft Project Server 2010' and 'Managing Enterprise Projects with Microsoft Project Server 2010', and he developed the entire training curriculum for EPMA Institute. In Tony's spare time, he is a bass slapper, a quadcopter pilot, and a karaoke superstar.
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